


Some Things are not Set in Stone

by TheDefenderoftheFaith



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Allen Needs a Hug, Gen, Good Big Brother Oliver Queen, Hurt No Comfort, My baby does not react well to Barry hiding the 'Imma die' thing, Nora is incapable of keeping her mouth shut, Oliver Queen Needs a Hug, Oliver gets his act together though, Protective Oliver, Protective Oliver Queen, Sad Oliver Queen, a large variety of angst, make that a tag, oh yeah - angst, she's there at the beginning then leaves for the angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:13:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27770548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDefenderoftheFaith/pseuds/TheDefenderoftheFaith
Summary: Apparently, Barry is supposed to die for the world. It's the sort of thing Barry would lie down and accept, Oliver has to admit. But Ollie can't accept that his little scarlet brother is going to die. He made a vow - a vow to protect Barry just as ferociously and full heartedly as he protects his city. He just doesn't know what that protection looks like anymore.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Oliver Queen
Kudos: 26





	Some Things are not Set in Stone

“Uncle Ollie!”

Oliver turned, as a beaming girl with short brown hair bounced up toward him. Team Flash was currently visiting at Oliver’s mansion, and Barry had brought along the speedster known, Oliver was pretty sure, as XS.

“I’m Nora Allen! Barry’s my dad, maybe he told you about me; I’m here from the future!”

Oliver felt himself nod slowly, because he had seen the purple/yellow blur on the news, and of  _ course _ Barry’s daughter would come back from the future, and of  _ course _ Barry would let her stay in the past. 

“Right. That tracks.”

Nora spread her arms wide with an expectant grin on her face as she beamed up at him, and Oliver put his hands up in front of him, chuckling uncomfortably. 

“...Ah, I don’t know if your dad told you this, but I’m not a big fan of hugging…” 

Her arms fell a bit, and her face twisted in confusion. “But… you  _ always _ give me a hug in my time! Even if I don’t ask for one…”

Oliver pulled up a hand to rub at the base of his neck, as he wondered how Allens seemed so dead - set on cuddling  _ him _ of all people. 

“Well, ah… I’m not sure how that happened. Couldn’t your dad have just hugged you?”

Nora’s face flashed with another layer of confusion, before lighting up with understanding and something else. 

“Oh man, nobody  _ told _ you, did they?” 

Oliver felt an all-to-familiar ball of ice settle into his stomach, as he fixed the Allen girl with the Arrow’s intense stare. “Told me  _ what _ ?”

“Umm…” Nora shifted, biting her lip. “Ohhh, I’m not supposed to spoil anything; everyone gets mad at me for spoiling everything…”

“Tell  _ me _ .” Oliver took a commanding step forward, fixing the girl with a narrowed glare. “Now.”

“I… uh… I couldn’t ask my dad.” Nora’s head fell, as her shoulders pulled up to her ears. 

“See, dad went missing 20ish years ago when he was saving the world… 20 of  _ my _ years, and, um. Nobody’s seen him since. It’s actually why I came back to this time because, uh… I didn’t have any memories of my dad. And I wanted those. Memories.” She gave Oliver a tentative smile. “You always said he was a really good guy.”

Oliver felt his lips purse, as he tried to process this new information. “And Barry knows that this… is going to happen.”

“Oh, yeah, Dad’s known for years. There’s this newspaper article from the future in the Time Vault, see, and it talks about Dad’s disappearance… although, I guess he didn’t know that he was gonna  _ stay _ disappeared until I showed up and told him, which was like, a couple months ago, or something, and it wasn’t  _ schway _ , or anything, but he took it pretty well; better than I was expecting.”

Nora blinks up at him with Barry’s innocent wide eyed stare that gives Oliver the rediculous urge to stuff him in bubble wrap, and Oliver swallows because  _ okay _ . No. 

He gives her a tight smile, trying for reassuring, and nodds. “Thanks for telling me.”

“Yeah, uh… no problem!”

Oliver can’t think of anything else to say, so he turns away and stalks into his halls, ignoring Felicity calling at him to join her. 

Barry. The same bright eyed, bushy tailed kid he’d  _ sworn _ to protect, like he’d sworn to protect his city. His little scarlet brother, who never got over his hero worship, even after seeing the depths to which Oliver could sink. 

He would keep this to himself. He  _ would _ . And Oliver had heard about what happened when the timeline changed. He’d head about Flashpoint; baby John. Even saving Iris had killed HR. Barry knew he was going to die. Had known he was going to die, but he wouldn’t risk changing the timeline again. He was going to lie down. And let it happen. 

Oliver fell against the paneled wall and slapped a hand against his mouth. 

He’d sworn. He’d  _ sworn _ , and he meant it. He would give his life, his safety, his freedom to save Barry, and here Barry was, knowing he was going to die and just accepting it. 

This was why he hadn’t told Oliver - Ollie couldn’t loose another brother, and he knew it. Especially not his little brother. His baby brother who was so innocent but had seen so much. Who was so very strong, but so vulnerable at the same time. 

But Barry would expect him to. One day, a crisis would come up, and Barry would give him that sad, strong smile, and tell him ‘I’m sorry Ollie, but I’m not coming home from this one’, and it would be too late to do anything. 

Oliver didn’t understand Barry’s world. Didn’t understand fate, or destiny, or tragedies you weren’t allowed to fight. All he understood was Barry running 600 miles because he needed advice, or because he’d seen the news and thought Oliver could use a friendly face. He understood Barry throwing surprise Christmas parties and drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows and peppermint while watching It’s a Wonderfull Life on his couch. 

He understood that Barry wasn’t the kind of person you asked to give his life to save the universe. That went to people like Ollie. People who could die and be replaced because what they  _ did _ was more important than who they were. No one could replace the Flash. No one could replace  _ Barry _ . 

It was unfair that Barry didn’t understand that. Barry, who had to be aching, and hurting, who had to want to stay with Iris, and be there for his daughter… his daughter that he hadn’t been able to raise? Barry wanted to be a father. If there was ever a man who  _ deserved _ to be a father, it was Barry… Barry who had grown up without his dad. 

And suddenly, Oliver understood with crystal clarity why an older version of himself would do his best to give Barry’s daughter the nearest thing to her father’s love he could manage, in some desperate attempt to give her even a fraction of the love her father was unable to give. Barry, who wanted more than anything to be there for his kids like his own father hadn’t been able to be. 

Barry, who’s own daughter wouldn’t even be able to remember his face. 

One tear slipped down his face, and Oliver choked on a future filled with an empty scarlet suit, with Iris sobbing over her fatherless daughter, with a city mourning it’s beloved hero. 

And then he took a deep breath. And straightened himself against the wall. This wasn’t helping anyone. It wouldn’t help anyone. His little brother was out there, smiling like he always did, while an invisible timer counted down over his head. Oliver didn’t know how much time Barry had left, and maybe neither did Barry, but he refused to squander what time he did have. 

Maybe the future was set in stone. Maybe not. No matter what, Oliver had a little brother to  _ be there _ for. One who needed him, whether he wanted to acknowledge it or not. No matter what Barry wanted to keep to himself, he was going to discover that he had more people willing to support him than he had counted on. 

Barry Allen’s future might be decided. But nowhere in that future was it written that he had to be alone. 


End file.
